1). Who is the Roll Deep and where did the name come from? What do you guys do?

• Roll Deep is a duo, its members are two very good-looking men; Trevor Lebogang Letswalo a.k.a TriGo and Philip Mdluli a.k.a Phil Soul

• Basically with the name we wanted a name that would best describe our style of music and what we are all about! So Roll Deep does just that.

• We are professional sound engineers, producers and we are also Djs

2). Tell us more about your musical journey? What lead to you taking that route than anything else?

• “The only way to true success is to honour your calling”
Music is a calling for us so we are honouring our gift from the higher powers, we think what really lead us to making music is the love and the great music talent that we have.

• Our journey all we can say is that it has just began…

3). Clearly this was all spawned from a love of music. What does music mean to both of you?

• Well music is our prayer and praise. We eat, sleep, talk, walk, and dream it. That’s music to us. We both think that music is one of the most beautiful thing that God has ever created, music inspires, evokes emotions, it’s one of the most powerful tools that can connect people from different walks of life whether black or white, rich or poor music is there for everyone and we all love music!

4). How did you get into the whole music scene? In SA, the music scene is looked at as being very glamorous. As insiders; is it as glamorous as most people tend to think it is?

• Well we both started off by becoming Djs.

• (Phil Soul) I studied sound engineering which had a big influence on my dream of one day becoming a house music producer, learning all the software at school really gave me a head start. I started making my own music at home and approaching different labels and producers for record deals but with no luck.

• TriGo: well I start off as well as a Dj, I had a friend who was a producer and was working at some studios, I used to go with him to studio, he installed the software for me and that was the beginning of everything. I started producing from late 2008 and I meet up with Phil. I really like his style of music so I told him we need to work together and form a duo and that’s how Roll Deep was Born into the music industry

• It is but we must say it comes with a lot of hard work!

5). Which genre of music do you specialise in and which is your personal favourite? You guys play good music. How do you get music and how do you source it out?

• Our production goes from one musical frontier to another. Nu jazz, Afro Beats, Deep Tech, Minimal and Soul. But this is the one sentence that can best describe our sound:
“Deep House vibe that is infused with some delightful soul and some techy rhythms.”

• Our favourite has to be Deep tech

• Well now that we know may producers all over the world we are getting alot of promo music from them, but as other djs do we buy our music on traxsource and other music download sites.

6). How do you manage being producers and DJs (and in your case, a student)? Do you still find the time to relax?

• There is not much time to relax because Phil is working and I’m a student so every time we get we spend making music!

• But we always make time to laze around

7). What is the biggest event you’ve ever performed at? What would be your ultimate performance and where?

• Wow that’s a very tricky one!

• We haven’t done all lot of gigs as Roll Deep but my biggest gig (TriGo) has to be playing at the deep soul session hosted by Vinny Da Vinci at Capitol in Rosebank.

• The ultimate performance has to be alive one at first with a capacity of about at least 5000 people and it would have to be in Spain Ibiza or the Winter Miami Conference.

8). Give us a breakdown a day or night in the life of Roll Deep? What’s the preparation like, leading up to an event, and what happens afterwards, what food you eat?
• Well there is no routine that we follow! It’s not like we weak up to and have to be in studio at a certain time and leave at a specific time, it’s pretty simple; wake up to do our chores take a bath have breakfast then site in front of the computer log on to facebook then open or start a new project after working on the idea we would meet and who every came up with the idea will present the track and we get to work,

• Food! The best is ikota ka Ntsitsi but trust me there is no music making after eating ikota, so we make sure we are done before we get to eat the Kota. Oh and Phil’s favourite mogodu and skopo.

9). Is the music industry your only source of income. Are there any other ventures that you are involved in?

• Yeah apart from the part time job that Phil Is doing yeap! It’s the only source of income

• We are not involved in any business ventures as yet but there are a couple of projects in the pipe line

10). What about time with family and friends – How do you manage that?

• It’s really hard hey finding a balance between friends, family and work but we always try and strike a balance between the three.

11). Given your insight into what’s fresh on the music scene, what do you think the trend for new year will be? Has the economic climate affected your pocket?

• We have kicked off the year with alot of deep tech stuff, so I hope it will be the biggest trend for this year.

• In terms of the global financial crisis every producer has had a bit of a knock, especial us; the “up and coming producers”, because people are not buying as before. They would rather go for the tried and tested than risk buying an E.P of someone they are not sure of.

12). Let’s be real… How many groupies do you get?

• (LOL!) A thousand just joking

• We are happily involved man so we don’t entertain the whole groupie thing… Any way it’s not worth it!

13). Have you had any awkward moments with fans? Have you performed at an event that made you go”WTF???”

• Actually it has happened before we at a gig in Soweto so these boys come to us with a cd they like please play this song, we were like ok we will play it and at the end of the set we play the songs, it started of nice ok we are like this not is not a bad songs yoh! The biggest shock ever! When the song got to a break everyone started taking their clothes off and dancing on top of the walls and dancing with their underwear till this day we are still shocked!

14). Did you always know you’d end up where you are today? Do you have any qualifications under your belt for any studies you may have completed or still busy with?

• TriGo: Music has always been my first love so if wasn’t going be a music producer I would have been a radio presenter or something that has to do with the entertainment industry. I have a diploma in media and Journalism and I am currently doing my advanced audio technology certificate

• Phil Soul: I have a diploma in I.T and in sound engineering but music has always been my first love.

15). What’s in store from Roll Deep? What aspirations do you have?

• Magic!

• Well the release of a long awaited E.P called Lerato will be out soon not sure when but will be dropping soon.

• The launch of our record company…

• And our social development project that you will know about very soon about.

Ah man… aspirations… the list is endless. Just to name quite a few:

• Has to be signing to at least 3 major deep house labels has to be the first and working with a lot of the big producers like Jay Tripwire, Ron Trent, Trinidadian Deep, Motor City Drum Ensemble, ah man the list is endless

• But more importantly is building the Roll Deep Brand and taking it to affirmable heights.

16). You feature a lot of artists on your music. What would be your ultimate collaboration?

• Wow yah neh thats a very difficult one

17). Who do you regard (aside from yourself) as a producer or performer that’s making strides in the industry?

• Well the is alot of producers and djs are really making strides in the industry guys like Hypnosis, Clown Dallas, ChrisIDH, Essential-I, Trinidadian deep, Mindlo, Lerato Moloi, just to name of few of the guys that we think are making their mark in the industry locally and internationally.

18). How may budding producers or DJs get in touch with you should they be interested in working with you? Or getting some samples music to “play for the crowd”.

• We are slowly but surely getting requests from people to work or do a remix for them.

• And the promo we are getting allot of international guys who are really interested in our music and pushing our music

19). In terms of the music you make, are there certain music programs you use? What is the secret to the sound you make?

• We use Logic, Reason and Cubase

• We think every producer have their own way of making music, we also have our own special ways.

• Well the secret is to be different from everyone else have your own identity, make music that will communicate, inspire, evoke emotions and that will take people to a places where they have never been before.

• Our intention is to create a sound that allows us to fully express our emotions and the connection to the music.